Walk among the flowers and feel your stress lift away!
Visiting a local botanical garden is a wonderful way to relax in nature and find inspiration for your own garden. Many local botanical gardens feature beautiful flowers, shrubs and trees that grow well in our tricky, semi-arid climate.
Here are links to many public gardens in the intermountain west, so you can find a botanical garden near you.
Botanical gardens in Colorado
- Betty Ford Alpine Gardens (Vail, Colorado)
- Denver Botanic Gardens (Denver, Colorado)
- Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield Farms (Littleton, Colorado)
- Durango Botanic Gardens (Durango, Colorado)
- Montrose Botanic Gardens (Montrose, Colorado)
- The Gardens on Spring Creek (Fort Collins, Colorado)
- Western Colorado Botanical Gardens (Grand Junction, Colorado)
- Yampa Valley Botanic Park (Steamboat Springs, Colorado)
Colorado also has waterwise demonstration gardens and native plant gardens. These gardens can be good places to see examples of natives plants and drought-tolerant plants.
Here are a few demonstration gardens along the Front Range:
- Conservation & Environmental Center Waterwise Garden (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
- High Plains Environmental Center (Loveland, Colorado)
You may want to search for waterwise demonstration gardens in your area.
Botanical gardens in Utah
- Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point (Lehi, Utah)
- Conservation Garden Park (Salt Lake City, Utah) – These gardens offer excellent demonstrations of Localscapes (Utah’s waterwise landscaping approach).
- Ogden Botanical Gardens (Ogden, Utah)
- Red Butte Garden (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Botanical gardens in New Mexico
- Santa Fe Botanical Garden (Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Botanical gardens in Idaho
- Firewise Demonstration Gardens (Boise, Garden City, Twin Falls, etc.)
- Idaho Botanical Garden (Boise, Idaho)
Botanic gardens in Wyoming
- Cheyenne Botanic Gardens (Cheyenne, Wyoming)
Botanic gardens in Montana
- Tizer Botanic Gardens and Arboretum (Jefferson City, Montana)
- Montana Native Plant Garden at the University of Montana (Missoula, Montana)
If you don’t see your state listed above, simply search for phrases like:
- Botanic gardens near [your city or state]
- Best gardens in [your city or state]
The American Horticulture Society has a search feature on their website to help people find botanical gardens that welcome members from other gardens. I find their search tool useful if you want to find botanical gardens by state. They don’t list every garden, but they include a lot of them.
You also can search for “demonstration gardens” near [your city or state]. Often times, demonstration gardens are good places to get ideas for waterwise (drought-tolerant) plants for your garden.
